Malaccan Eats

After a good night’s rest, we still wanted to make a quick exploration of Malaccan food so we headed off back into town, specifically those within the Jonker Street vicinity. Parking along the narrow roads is as scarce as they come so once we spotted an empty lot, we grabbed it and walked. Our first stop was at Poh Piah Lwee after being ushered in by the owners (I presume).

The place is quite small but clean. And blown up photographs and newspaper writeups are prominently displayed.

After tasting the popiah, I can understand why it’s been around a while now. Apart from the flavourful jicama, the secret lies in the extra lard bits and yin sai (chinese parsley) that is wrapped together with the other usual ingredients. The resulting taste is quite unique.

They also have laksa available only 3 days of a week, Tues, Weds & Sunday. So we didn’t get any.

Around the corner was Jonker Street and we strolled down slowly until we spotted this NyonyaKuih stall. An elderly aunty mans the stall with 2 other women. She was doing quite brisk business so we too picked out some kuih to share amongst our group.

Some of the assorted Nyonya Kuih. The Ku Kuih was only bite-sized, which was perfect for finishing in 1 to 2 bites. The pink one had crushed peanut filling, while the other 2 had the usual green bean paste filling. The only difference between the red one and black one is the skin in which the latter is mixed with the juice of some herbal leaves.

I loved the onde-onde which popped and squirted gooey gula melaka upon biting them.

Just next to the Nyonya kuih stall was this 8TV HoChak! endorsed stall selling shaved ice desserts. And sharing the shop space was a wan tan mee seller featured in some newspapers.

First up was the wantan noodles which greatly resembled the Sarawak mee kolok, even the char siew slices was similar! And since the majority of our makan group were Sarawakians, this was a hit with us. But if you’re used to the KL version, then this won’t be your thing, I reckon. And portion size was very generous, another plus with us.

Apart from cendol, another Malaccan shaved ice dessert specialty is the “Pat Poh Bing” (八宝冰), which is very similar to my hometown’s version of ABC – “Special” which has a chockful of ingredients in it. As I knew we were going to have more cendol later, I opted for something hot and chose the Peanut Soup (花生汤). The cendol was dismal and was bland. But the peanut soup was delicious! The peanut chunks were soft to bite and the accompanying liquid rich with a peanuty taste.

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What’s a trip to Malacca without trying Nyonya cuisine? During my last visit, a walking tour guide recommended Nancy’s Kitchen so we headed there. This Nyonya restaurant was doing brisk business and the lower level was filled so we were ushered upstairs. Even then, the bigger tables were reserved.

Somewhat stuffed from our previous meals, we only ordered a few dishes without rice to share. We started with Pai Tee which was a tad on the oily side. But the filling was tasty.

Ayam Keluak. My aunt cooks Babi Keluak quite regularly and I’m very familiar with this nut and love it. But it was my friends’ first time so we only ordered enough to share in case the complexity of the flavours was too much. I’m not too sure how the authentic dish is supposed to be as the one I get at home is more dry and concentrated in comparison to this. Their version has so much gravy that it’s almost like soup! But the others loved slurping the gravy while I happily cleaned out my buah keluak.

We were seduced by the photo of this dish – Sek Bak but it turned out to be braised pork. Haha, tad disappointed we ordered something so ordinary but it tasted pretty delish.

As we were making our way to our next stop, guess what I saw in front of Geographer’s cafe? This huge chicken rice ball! Haha, apparently some team-building event was going on and part of their challenge was to guess how many chicken rice balls were used to make this huge one. Your guess?

One of the more famous cendol stalls in Malacca, this one also doubles as a Maritime museum. Owner Jenny Wong started this shop in 1997 and it has attracted vast numbers of customers since. She states that the secret lies in the gula melaka which takes more than 10 hours to prepare to get it in its fragrant and sticky consistency. Anyhow, I love licking the sticky sauce off the steel spoon! Apart from that, it’s alright only.

I discovered this shop the same time I discovered the shellfish stall during a brief working stint in Malacca some 7 years ago and both of them are my must haves whenever I am in Malacca. Even though I haven’t tried the real deal in Tangkak itself, I’m already quite pleased with what this branch has to offer.

Silky soft hor fun served in a dark coloured broth, with various beef cuts, including tripe and other parts. Dip them into the chilli sauce which has a slight sourish tinge, and mhmm…